Diluted Espresso
"Espresso we know but what the hell is a lungo? Also, why do we have to dilute coffee for Americans?".
LOL. The above is my trollish post on social media today to try driving some engagement/views. Sadly the "build it and they will come" paradigm is dead now. Gotta build it, then go dragging people, kicking and screaming, to your monument. That's where we are now :)
Anyway, that aside, I've been venturing outside my usual americano drink lately. The combination of having a new toy (my coffee machine), coffee themed social media, and a lot of family visiting and staying over right now, has meant I've been making a whole bunch of different types of drinks.
I even made some latte, cappuccino, chococcino, and so on. I bought some oat milk, which isn't milk at all, so even I have been drinking some of the stuff. I'm quite fond of my oat milk lattes in the morning now. I find that the oat softens the dark bitter coffee in quite a pleasant way actually. Might I say, I really like it! Some videos are coming soon, once I'm able to get some peace and quiet at my place. Right now the background would be full of yelling and screaming, which is the normal way my family talks, and nobody wants that 😂.
Lungo vs Americano
The two popular "diluted espressos", one of which is my favourite drink ever, are explained below. The story is that when the popular Italian drink of espresso got the the United States back in the day, the found it too concentrated. It needed to be diluted with hot water for it to be palatable. How true this is, I'm not sure.
Measurements are slightly different, depending on where you go but, on average, an americano is more diluted than a lungo. The main difference that I find is when the water is added, rather than how much.
A lungo is pulled with about twice as much water as a regular espresso. This means the pull time is longer so the coffee is subjected to more water and pressure, making the drink more caffeinated and bitter.
In the case of americano the water is added after the pulling process. The amount of caffeine remains the same, but the volume of water is more leading to a less bitter drink. An americano also tends to be hotter when served due to the added hot water usually being at or near boiling.
Ideally, and officially, the espresso itself is what forms the base for popular espresso-based drinks such as cappuccino, but in reality a lungo or americano can be used to make some of those drinks. You can pour an americano latte for instance. It will probably taste more diluted, but some people like that.
Being summer, I've been making some iced coffee drinks for family members that are not as hardcore as I am haha. For these drinks I've usually used cooked down americanos or even coffee made in a french press, and then left to cool down. The above is an "iced miloccino", a sort of an invention of mine, which I made for someone with a sweet tooth. It's not my thing, since it's got some honey in it, but it didn't taste too bad actually.
Peace & Love,
Adé